So, I Spent 5 Hours In Budapest, Hungary

Last month I had a wonderful opportunity to visit Hungary and explore its culture for almost 2 weeks. I went on youth exchange which took part in a small town called Hajdúböszörmény which I still can’t pronounce till this very day. Sorry, Hungarian people but your language is a tongue breaker for me.

So during my stay in Hungary, we couldn’t miss a chance to visit Budapest. Even if it was for 5 hours. Yes, we only had 5 hours in Budapest due to lack of time but it was few of the best 5 hours in my life.

We started our exploration from Heroes’ Square which is probably one of the grandest landmarks. It’s also the largest public square in Budapest. We didn’t spend much time in the square but we sure took a lot of photos.

The next thing we decided to explore was city park which was quite near the Heroes’ square, only 10 minutes walk or so. We didn’t have time to explore much of it but from what I saw, it’s a very lovely place to spend the whole afternoon at. A lot of gorgeous architecture and activities to do. We also ran into a bigger souvenir shop there where I bought a magnet for my on-growing collection.

The woman at the shop was very kind and even though she hardly spoke English or Russian, she let us take a photo of a city map and gave few recommendation of what we should visit. So, after city park, we made our way to that we assumed then as the main street (it lead all the way to Buda).

On the way, we saw House of Terrors and Hungarian State Opera House. It’s a shame that we couldn’t actually visit House of Terrors, a museum that was created to document the effects Nazi and Soviet regimes had in Hungary, as well as a memorial for all the victims. I already said how important such museums are in the Ninth Fort post, which I suggest you read if you still haven’t.

After a short walk in Budapest streets, we stopped by St. Stephen’s Basilica that was a sight to see for sure. I wanted to go to the tower from which you could see the whole landscape of the city but the line was too long, so we decided to skip the tower.

Finally, we reached Chain Bridge which offered us gorgeous views of Castle Hill. We crossed the bridge and made our way up the hill on foot as we didn’t want to waste time waiting 40 minutes in a line for a funicular. Plus, it was a good exercise. I stupidly decided to wear a huge sweater that day, so I was sweating a lot, to say the least. It was around 20-something degrees.

There was National History Museum, Gallery in Buda Castle that I so wanted to visit but we had limited time so we couldn’t do it. But the views from the castle’s hill were worth everything. We could also see Hungarian Parlament Building which is an architectural wonder in my opinion.

Sadly, our visit to Budapest was coming to an end and we had to fasten our pace and get back to Heroes’ square near which we left our car. On the way back, we grabbed hot dogs and tried to enjoy the last minutes in this wonderful city by observing the streets and simply enjoying the moment.

I guess you could say that I fell in love with Budapest and its architecture. There is still so much that we didn’t see or experience in Budapest. There are all these museums, public thermal baths and more architectural wonders that are churches and castles.

I can say now that I managed to cross one thing off my bucket list: listen to Budapest by George Ezra while driving through Budapest. Such a damn good feeling. Now I need to do the same with New York City. No pressure.

Anyways, that’s all I’ve got for now from my trip to Hungary. I hope that you enjoyed reading this post and that now you’re burning with desire to visit Budapest. I sure as hell want to plan my next trip to Budapest soon and explore all the corners of it that I didn’t have time to.